Becoming a Children's Book Illustrator

Be a children's book illustrator

As any career, Harris says, children's book illustration can be hard. He has always loved drawing and painting - and the powerful and enduring nature of children's books. Think of this as your guide to a career in children's illustration.

Become a children's book illustrator

To become a children's book illustrator is a vision for many artist, but how can you make a livelihood out of this vision? Tonight's panelist Matt B. Lewis tells how he took the leap into self-employment after 18 years as a public official - a completely independent carreer.

Though he never went to arts college, Matt always drew every afternoon. After signing up for the Illustration Lighthouse programme in September 2016, it was already clear to him how important it is to find and focus on the one thing you like most. And in October he had already composed, pictorialized and released his first book Monsters in the Garden - a present to his little girl.

In February 2017 another storybook for his boy followed as Matt felt willing to take his new artistic careers to the next level. Learn more about becoming a children's book illustrator in this week's inspirational, podcasting session. Matt B Lewis. Some of the podcasts highlights:

Hopefully this week's Matt B. Lewis will give you a lot of inspirational tips on how to become a children's book illustrator. And if you liked this podcast, you can also hear this exclusive talk with Oliver Kriel about how you can get your first children's book published in just three month.

Do you have any idea how you can illustrate a children's book in the nearhood?

Go on talking!

There is an infinite number of ways in the designer community for people to find the ideal profession they like and passion. As for Jason Heglund, a fan of illustration and texture, his response was graphics designing, but where he ended up was completely out of the blue and a fluke.

In my youth I quit painting for a while, but I discovered it again after I began on my way to graphics work. To be a graphical designer/illustrator is the only thing that makes good business for me. Why are you interested in designing? Musical packages have aroused my interest in designing. As I saw the artwork for Training For Utopia's "Throwing A Wrench Into the American Music Maschine ", I knew I wanted to become a printmaker.

Since then my main emphasis was on graphics and illustrations. Since when have you been interested in the illustrations of children's literature? I have always had an interest in children's literature because of the beautiful arts, the pictures and the free fantasy, but I never really thought of illustrated children's literature until I was approached a few years ago to create a book about monster photography.

It was a book I immediately liked to work on and I thought it would be so great to do more of this kind of work. Is your subsidiary playing a role in your creativity processes? She' s not playing a big role in this whole thing right now because she's too young to really know what's going on, but she knows that I make a lot of artwork and enjoy seeing her.

It' always a pleasure to work with her to read the book World of Creatures & Code (the first children's book I've illustrated). We' re making up tales about the monster on each page, and their favourite part of the book is the front and back. So how did you get to your first book-illustrating concert?

I made some funny monster and child drawings that were perfect for her ideas for a children's book. What is the difference between the paediatric book illustrations and other illustrations you have done? In most cases it follows the same procedure, except that it is longer and much more involved.

One of the most difficult things about illustrations in a book is that you can't really stop until it's over. Work on a four-month or longer duration is a challenge because you want to take a rest and work on other work. You can' t really do that with a book, but when it's done, it's much more worthwhile than a solo artworkject.

How long in your opinion is the illustrating time for a children's book? Much of this will depend on the book, the way of illustrating and the way we work together. I' d say a standard children's book would take about 3-4 month if it is your main one. Have you encountered any unforeseen challanges in your first children's book illustrations?

It was the most difficult part of the first book to keep to the timetable I had given myself while working full-time as a graphics artist and having a good home after school. Apart from that, the whole procedure ran without a hitch because I had a fairly mature illustration making procedure, which is an important part to keep in the back of your head when you' re doing a book for someone else.

This will help you figure out a trial before you begin to work, otherwise you will be spending a great deal of your free day researching different technologies and different genres to see what works. If you do, it will take much longer for this book to be finished. They also run the danger of having an ambiguous page to page approach, so part of the preparations should be the choice of style/process for the book.

Usually I begin the book with the illustrations of a individual page. Do you like the latest fashions in children's book illustrations? I have not noticed any recent trend in children's literature because there are so many. I' m following many illustrations I adore who have written children's literature.

Beekle" was written and pictorialized by Dan Santat, who publishes really good works. But I also like Jared Chapman textbooks. When an illustrator is interested in illustrations for children's literature, what would you say are the "must have" experiences/skills he has in his tool box and/or curriculum vitae?

It is certainly not necessary to have a university qualification to illustrate a children's book. If you have a definite look and a sophisticated approach, I think your book will look good, but it goes beyond your own illustrative abilities. Just like most work, you need to have a powerful work ethic, flexibility, a cooperative attitude and really have fun doing what you do, because all these things combined make a well-made book.

Is there a "nice to haves" that could make an illustrator stand out from the masses in the childrens book illustrations business? It is very useful to have a lot more than just illustrative pages because you have more precious resource for the writer. They can provide to make a logotype for the book that can be well translated into soft copy and other promotional material to make this book a success.

Create a book sales promotion schedule that uses the illustrative items from the book in a way that doesn't just show the page. Many writers know how to make history, but they don't know how to speak dynamically about the book.

A graphics-designed illustrator can let his creativity play and provide some imaginative inspiration to make pictures that go beyond just displaying the pages to make the book more buzzable. Could you refer to Jason's imaginative trip or trial?